Candyland
by MaladaptiveDaydream
Summary: Temari and her brothers have escaped their traumatic past in Suna. Their fresh start takes them to Konoha-Academy, where Temari hopes to rebuild their lifes. But between Gaara bringing his inner demons with him, Kankuros impulsive behaviour and an annoying Nara things aren t easy. Soon enough the Sabakunos discover that the town and ist citizens are not as sugarcoated as they seem.
1. ARRIVAL IN CANDYLAND

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters.

Also: In this story Temari and Kankuro are twins ;)

(EDIT): I just realised the format changed all the italics back to normal, so this is a re-upload of the exact same text, as I first published.

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TEMARIS POV

Temari looked out of the car-window and watched the strange outside fly by. She sighed. _It sure looks different_. The town, where she grew up, didn´t have many colors.

In the desert everything was sand and stone and the wind and sun kept it that way. The occasional vegetation grew strong and stubborn like the people of the desert. It blended with the earthy tones of sienna, beige and gray. _No plant in Suna tries to be that pretty_ , she thought as they passed another rose-bush lining yet another perfectly moaned lawn. The grass was so green it almost hurt her eyes and Konoha was too clean.

In Suna everything was dusty. The people were dusty, the streets were dusty and the very air was either dusty or blurred by the heat. "This place looks like a fucking Disney-movie!", she shook her head, her sand-colored pig-tails sticking up against the too pleasant too humid air.

"Well. It was your idea", her twin-brother chuckled. She boxed his arm causing him to drive a snakeline. "Hey!", he shot her an angry look, but as soon as he returned his attention to the street he stopped frowning and she knew he wasn´t really cross with her.

Temaris youngest brother hadn´t even blinked. He was in the back-seat and since they had gotten into the car this morning he hadn´t moved. Arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed, Gaara had kept his silence all day long. _I could almost think he is asleep_.

But of course he wasn´t. Her little brother was an insomniac. When he slept for once, the resemblance to their late mother always astonished her.

Gaara was the only sibling, who had inherited the sea-foam eyes, porcelain teint and dark red hair of the woman, who had died giving birth to him. It was ere. Temari was the only sibling with a faint memory of hearing a lullaby and getting a goodnight-kiss before bed. But every blurry vague memory of her mother was of a gentle and loving woman.

Tenderness in the hands tucking her in at night, a warm smile on lips painted the color of her hair and such a genuine laugh. Of the three siblings only Gaara resembled her in coloring, but his demeanor was so different from hers, that he never reminded Temari of her. _Especially with the eyeliner._

Temari shook her head. When Gaara was asleep, he was a different person. His features relaxed and the glare, that could easily run chills down her spine, dissolved in a vulnerability, which an awake Gaara never showed.

The few times Temari had found him asleep and managed not to wake him she had always asked herself, if that was the Gaara, they would have known, if their mother hadn´t died and their father had never punished his youngest son for it.

She turned her eyes towards the road again. Before she had realized, that their father also hated Gaara for his resemblance to their mother, Temari had envied her little brother for it. Their father kept the one picture of his late wife locked in his study next to his alcohol, so Temari was left with trying to remember her by Gaara, who somehow looked exactly and nothing like her and Kankuro, who was the only one in the family, who had a sunny character like her, even though he looked like their father.

Kankuro had the dark brown hair and almost black eyes of him, whereas Temari only had a similar temper to him, but looked nothing like either parent. Whenever she thought of her mother it made her sad. Whenever she thought of her father it made her glad.

Since his imprisonment Temari was the head of the family and it had been her idea to move. None of them really wanted to leave their home-town, but ever since Gaara had gotten out of psychiatry the people of Suna had been out for revenge.

Temari wasn´t worried, that some bully with a pocket-knife or some street-gang would actually hurt Gaara. All three of the Sabakuno siblings were fully capable of watching out for themselves. What had her worried was, what her skinny red-head brother might do to the attackers.

So she had decided to move them. Without a parent their household was a liability to the state and the possibility of getting Gaara out of town had been incentive enough to speed up the paperwork and get them a place at a boarding school abroad.

Konoha Academy was apparently a place daft enough to accept a student, who still had court-mandated therapy. Somewhere in the back of Temaris head she had subconsciously formed this image of a crooked dark mansion at the bottom of a hollow, that the sun never reached, with bats flying around and lightning striking the bell-tower at midnight.

 _Maybe clowns as teachers,_ she thought and shook of a shiver. Temari hated clowns as much as cheerful people. She had expected they would end up in a school like a Hitchcock-movie, not in fucking evergreen Candyland.

 _Well, we will see, which is worse,_ she mused. "I think that was the driveway", Temari pointed out, as Kankuro passed the `Konoha-Academy-Boarding-School`-sign, that had the size of a bus. "Was it?", her twin sped the car up. "Yes! Turn around", Temari commanded. "Okay, okay", Kankuro stopped the car slowly and turned it around not even touching the gas-pedal. Behind them the only other vehicle in sight started honking, while its driver used his free hand to give Kankuro the finger. "Turn the fucking car around!"

"I am"

"Faster, you idiot"

"Now, now. That is not the tone we wanna use at the fancy new boarding-school, young lady"

"Well if we ever got there- Oh! Open the window. Now!". Kankuro complied without complaining for a change.

"What the fuck is your problem, asshole? Never seen a beginner drive? You better take that finger down, where I can´t see it, before I shove it somewhere, you can´t see it!", she yelled at the driver of the other car.

"That was a lie. I have been driving longer than you have", Kankuro smirked at her. "Stop smiling. It makes me want to vomit"

"And we wouldn´t want that".

Temari took a deep breath. He was purposefully annoying her. She knew that. They were driving down the road, still as slowly as possible. _Okay. Stay calm,_ she told herself. _One, two three, four, five, six, seven eight, nine, ten,_ she counted in her head. _And there we have it: Proof that therapy is bullshit._ "Hit the gas already!"

"But how are we going to live up to our reputation, if we make it on time?", Kankuro mocked her. Temari was just about to chuck him over the head, when- "Quiet", Gaaras eyes had snapped open and there was nothing foamy about them anymore. They looked more like arctic ice. _Great,_ Temari thought. _That is going to be one fun meeting with the principal._

"We will be punctual", Gaara dead-panned. "Alright, little Bro", Kankuro killed the engine, when Gaara snaked his arm around his throat from behind and choked him against his seat. "Never call me that again", Gaara hissed.

"That is quite enough", Temari firmly met Gaaras stare. If she had touched his arm, it would only provoke him. It made her nervous, and her hands started shaking, but Gaara couldn´t see it from his position. He shrugged. "Fine", he leaned back in his seat and tilted his head studying her, while Kankuro was busy coughing. "For now", he added and turned towards the window to take a bored first look at their new surroundings.

"Are you okay?", Temari touched her twins arm, while he restarted the car. "Yeah", his voice was a bit scratchy, his eyes watering and he cleared his throat. "I am practiced", he flashed her a reassuring dark-purple smile and she patted his arm. Only once. _He did act like an idiot after all._

"Holy shit!", Kankuro exclaimed. _He has a point,_ Temari mused. The giant stone building was... well giant. It looked like a goddamn mountain. The front of the building was lined with rows and rows of huge windows and Temari counted. Five, six- seven floors!

In Suna the tallest building had four floors and it was round and blended in with the surroundings. This school on the other hand...

It was build of cold gray stones, unlike any building in the desert, and the effect of the color was magnified by its sharp-edged square form. Konoha seemed to be a town, that didn´t know sandstorms or earth-quakes. There was no need to make buildings flat and round, as not to give the wind a front to push over.

Something about the large shadow it cast over them, made her feel short of air. She grabbed her fan out of her messenger-bag. With one flick it snapped open, the three lilac moons, that she had painted on the creamy white material, calmed her immediately. Temari refused to believe in anxiety or nervousness. Both were emotions cut out for weak people.

One, two, three flaps with her fan later, she snapped it shut again, avoiding the sharp metal-edges with practiced ease. It had been the first thing she had ever saved up money for, and it had meant a world to her, to be able to buy it at last. Countless hours of work had been spent on it, and she took it everywhere with her.

 _It is like home. Windy, designed for hot days and resilient._ She smiled and put it back in her back-pack. When the color on the outer panels of the fan had finally rubbed of, there had been no question of buying a new fan.

Her fan was a special design. Unlike most fans in Suna it wasn´t made of painted wood, but of metal. The sharp-edged panels had rid her once and for all of the need for a knife. Suna was a rough place and when people like Gaara came along. People, who made enemies, but where to dangerous to be the subject of revenge themselves, their siblings ended up as the one way people sought payback.

 _Not that Gaara ever cared, if we were hurt for his actions._ But, Temari had found out at a young age, that people were simply stupid that way.

"Well, let´s go", Kankuro strode ahead. Despite his bitching Temari knew, that he had liked the idea of moving. The prospect of never having to clean out sand out of his marionettes joints had been half of that. The other half had been, that Kankuro had always planned on moving to a town abroad with a real theater someday.

Temaris twin was an artist. A puppeteer headed for the stage. He had earned the right to the dark-purple of the famous puppeteer-guild of of Suna at a young age and chosen to tattoo his lips in it, instead of the more popular scarf or bracelet. She felt a twinge of envy at his dedication. Kankuro had a dream. Something he worked so hard for . She wished, she had a real plan for her future. Something to be passionate about.

Her twin-brother was a careless person. He never put much thought into how they would survive. when their father spent his money on liquor instead of food. She had been the one to keep them of the streets. She had worked two jobs and run errands for their old neighbor Chiyo after school and kicked Kankuro out to go play for the tourists instead of his room.

Temari had done her best to pacify their father and to be there for Gaara, even if he didn´t want her there and she couldn´t help him. It had always felt like she had a job: Bringing her brothers up. Now, that there was no crisis, but the prospect of a roof over theirs heads, always enough food on the table and an education, not she, but teachers would force on her brothers, her own future scared her.

"Welcome to Knoha-Academy!", a cheerful brown-haired woman greeted them the moment they had passed the front-doors. "I am Shizune, the headmistresses personal assistant. You must be the Sabakunos".

"Yes. Temari, Gaara, Kankuro", Temari nodded in her brothers directions bowed and frimly pressed the offered hand. The woman, Shizune, smiled warmly. "Very well. Please follow me".

They went through the entrance hall, where posters showing happy students engaging in school-activities covered the walls, and plants in hand-painted pots suggested a nurturing creative environment. Temari smiled, when she noticed that they were made of silk.

"This", Shizune stopped at the enormous wooden staircase "is the central staircase. It is one of three running through all the floors", she pointed at a framed plan of the floor, right next to the stairs. "This is a fire-escape plan, just in case. You can find them at the three large staircases on every floor. The rooms are all listed with numbers, so if you get lost just look at the plan", she motioned for them to follow her upstairs.

"The first floor holds the Gym and Auditorium, which both continue to the second floor, and the Cafeteria. The second floor additionally holds the labs and on the third floor the other science classes and all the music and art classes are held."

"Now here", Shizune stopped on the fourth level and Temari was glad for the opportunity to catch her breath "Are social studies, psychology and", she tapped the plan "the nurses office and the guidance counselor, where you will have your therapy-sessions", Shizune directly addressed Gaara now.

 _Maybe I was wrong thinking the crisis was over,_ Temari reconsidered her thought from before, when she caught Gaaras eye. Shizune swallowed hard and her smile flickered a bit, before she had it back in place. "Er... okay. Moving on", Temari saw, that the PA still cast nervous glances over her shoulder to keep an eye on Gaara.

Kankuro and Temari shared a look. They knew all to well, how it felt to get that look from their brother.

By the time they reached the fifth floor there was a definite tension in Shizunes neck "Languages and the library", she said shortly. Kankuro offered her a nod and a reassuring smile, while Temari made no such effort. Gaara was one of those people who spend a lot of time in the principal´s office. Shizune might as well get used to him now.

She glanced at Gaara and tried to catch his eye. _You knew this was coming,_ she tried to silently communicate to him, while she prayed, that he wasn´t going to attack the PA right now. _Or not at all, if possible._ Gaara stared straight ahead, eyes following Shizune up to the sixth floor. He gave no indication whatsoever to even notice Temari.

"This floor holds the dormitories of the younger students. Boys to the east, girls to the west. The curfew in the week for all students below the age of sixteen is nine o´clock. For those above the age of sixteen it is ten o´clock. The doors to the eastern and western staircase at the end of the corridors will be locked at nine and there are chaperons in the common rooms next to the central staircase. So do yourselves the favor and don´t try to sneak out", she looked at them all in turn, quickly avoiding Gaaras eyes and taking a double-take of Kankuro, before continuing up the stairs.

 _She probably knows a lot of rule-breakers. No wonder she recognizes Kankuro,_ Temari grinned all the way to the seventh floor. "And here", Shizune motioned to the Receptionists-desk on the seventh floor. It was directly opposite the central staircase, so that the office behind it was directly above the front-doors "the headmistresses office. The dormitories of the upper years are split. Boys east, girls west again", she went around the desk and motioned for them to follow her.

Temari saw, that Shizune lifted her hand in order to knock on the wooden door, bearing a brass-sign, that read "Headmistress Tsunade", but before Shizune could knock a booming voice from the office interrupted them.

"GET OUT!", the woman behind the doors shouted. There were steps and suddenly a fuming blond with glowing eyes yanked the door open and bodily threw a blond boy from the room. Judging by the creases in his orange sweater she had held him up by it.

"No need to be so rude! This is totally an abuse of power, old lady", the blond said. He got up and started brushing the dust from his blue jeans. Temari noticed, that he was wearing orange sneakers, and a girly jewel-necklace. He had extraordinarily blue corn-flower eyes and blond hair sticking up in every direction. Temari couldn´t tell, whether that was just the way his hair was or whether it was a feeble attempt at a "cool" hairstyle. She strongly suspected the latter.

"WHO DID YOU JUST CALL OLD?!", bellowed the blond woman with a strange force, that seemed to vibrate in the air. _What is her problem?,_ Temari thought. She had always thought, that she had a full chest, but the fuming harpy in front of them put her to shame.

"Don´t get your panties in a bunch, Granny. I am going!", the boy stuck his tongue out at her and hastened to run down the central staircase, as the harpy launched in his direction, fists clenched and beet-red in the face- "NARUTO!", she bellowed.

Shizune cleared her throat and effectively caught the womans attention. "What?", the "old" lady asked harshly and straightened out her green blouse. "Erm... Headmistress Tsunade, these are the new students we talked about. Gaara, Kankuro and Temari Sabakuno", Shizune introduced.

Temari actually felt her jaw dropping a little, before she caught herself. She had thought, that the woman, Tsunade, was Narutos mother, who had been called, because her son had gotten himself into trouble. The way she acted, was both to violent and loud for a headmistress... _Or really anyone, who teaches minors._

Shizune offered a decidedly cheerful smile to the three siblings. "You have the honor to meet-", she started listing a whole lot of titles, before finishing with telling them, that they could just call her headmistress Tsunade. Temari however didn´t listen in the first place. She had automatically turned to see, how her brothers took the news, that this was their new headmistress. Gaara had raised one of his eyebrows a millimeter, which for him was an excessive use of mimic, whereas Kankuro-

"Ouch!", her brother exclaimed, as Temari elbowed him so hard, that the cat-eared hood of his sweater slipped from his unkempt hair. She couldn´t believe her twin had been ogling Tsunades chest. That was _outrageous_!

 _On the other hand, an inappropriate relationship with a teacher is exactly, why Suna let him go with us, despite his talent as a puppeteer._ "You are _not_ getting us expelled on day one!", she hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

"Let´s take this inside shall we", Tsunade flashed a tiny smile, and her entire features seemed changed. Gone was the harpy and there was a truly beautiful woman. Temari didn´t think of many fellow females as beautiful.

She didn´t like girls who acted all girly and stupid to impress guys and she thought it was a shame, that the girls who actually had beautiful features were almost always those, who felt the need to plaster on make-up, to the point, where their faces became artificial paintings instead of expressions.

Tsunade had beautiful features once she didn´t contort them anymore. Now that the fury didn´t reflect in them, her eyes seemed calm pools of hazel framed by dark lashes and her long blond hair was pulled back in two ponytails, which hardly any woman could have pulled of.

Temari liked, that Tsunade seemed to share her aversion towards make-up, as the older woman had only used a little mascara and lipgloss to draw attention away from her... face-tattoo? Temari was pretty sure that the blue diamond on Tsunades forehead wasn´t a sign of her commitment to Hinduism.

"So", Tsunade said, as she sat down in her chair. Her desk was far larger and significantly more expensive than Shizunes. Her office had the soothing colors and distinctly stylish wooden furniture a decorator would choose.

The panorama-window behind her desk flooded the room with natural light, the walls were mostly covered with bookshelves and an assembly of expensive armchairs and couches around a coffeetable told Temari, that this was likely the room sponsors, donors and influential parents were also welcomed.

Tsunade searched the papers on her desk for a moment, until Shizune subtly pointed at the searched files, before she left, closing the door behind her. "Right...", Tsunade briefly opened the three files and quickly scanned the first page. The first file was about twice the size of the other two. _Gaaras file,_ Temari suspected.

When the headmistress opened the third file Temari caught a glimpse of a picture of herself at the Kazekages office, pinned to the first page. _Where did she get that from?_

"Okay. As far as I can see", Tsunade addressed Temari directly "you are the guardian of your brothers?"

"Yes Ma´am", Temari dutifully replied. All three Sabakunos had taken a stance appropriate for addressing superiors, but by Tsunades questioning glance Temari deduced, that in Konoha students weren´t expected to stand up straight and keep their hands folded behind the back, when talking to a teacher.

She unfolded her hands. "May I ask, why you applied to become an emancipated minor, and take the guardianship of your brothers?", Tsunade asked. "We are family. It was the logical cause of action", Temari replied.

"I understand why you would think so", the older woman folded her hands and leaned back in her chair "but why did you apply for guardianship on top of it? I understand being of age in front of the law would have sufficed to grant you rights to rent a place and live there with your brothers. Why also take guardianship?".

"Because I asked her to. Only a legal guardian might sign minors out of psychiatry, before the doctors suggest it", Gaara said. _Asked. That is the nicest word he used for threatening yet._ Temari had been happy, when after the tiresome court-case their lawyer had succeeded in pledging insanity and Gaara had been admitted to an asylum. She had honestly hoped, that it would do him some good.

She thought that maybe the staff would be able to help her little brother, where she and Kankuro had failed. Quite frankly both twins were afraid of Gaara. He was psychotic. Always changing between emotionless and a blind cold-blooded hatred and rage, that shocked his older siblings. _And it isn´t like we could stop him..._

In the beginning of Gaaras treatment they hadn´t been allowed to visit, and when finally after two months of unanswered E-Mails they had been allowed to visit, Kankuro and Temari had been surprised. Gaara seemed calm. For the first time in forever he seemed normal. No danger radiating off of him. His posture was relaxed, one corner of his mouth turned up in a half-smile, as he greeted them.

They had sat down opposite their brother, and the moment they were alone, Gaara had grabbed her head, slamming her twice against the table, before grabbing her throat. "You listen to me, you little bitch. You are going to get me out of here. _Now!"_ , Gaara had hissed in her ear. And Temari had winced and quickly agreed. It was one of the few moments she had actually believed, that her brother was going to kill her right there and then.

The only thing psychiatry had done for Gaara, was making him a better actor. _But yeah, I guess he calls that asking._ The memory still sent chills down her spine. With anyone else she would have been furious, but years of experience had taught her better, than to try and get back at him for it.

"Hm. I understand. And why didn´t you apply? I understand you are the same age...", Tsunade checked the second file "Kankuro?", she finished then. "It was a question of character", Kankuro replied with dark amusement in his voice. Tsunade flicked through the following pages, and her eyebrows suddenly shot upwards. "I understand", she said curtly.

"Well having a guardian here is a rare case of luck. Usually it requires a lot of back and forth and mountains of paperwork no amount of Sake can make bearable, to make changes in therapy or classes or even meal-choices for a student", she shook her head, which was lucky, since both twins were rapidly blinking, trying to clear the surprise of their faces.

"Here is a set of the school-rules for each of you", Tsunade handed Temari three neatly printed pages. "I presume Shizune has told you about the curfew?", they nodded. "Very well. Now here at Konoha-Academy all students have a roommate. Usually we try to team you up according to your strengths in school, interests and background, but since you are all transferring in, you were just placed in the vacancies"

"Now there is also the issue, that we usually team up our students in learning-groups of three. Each team gets sorted according to their strengths. Teams are frequently assigned school-projects and homework together. By this Konoha-Academy encourages tutoring and camaraderie within the student body. _Legally_ we aren´t allowed to let an entire team fail, because one fails, but according to your files you are all well aware what a flexible term that is", she smiled sweetly.

"Now Temari and Kankuro you can build a team of two and Gaara, we already picked a team of your peers, that you can join", Tsunade stopped, when she noticed Temari lifting her hand up to ask a question. "Yes?"

"Well we have a similar team-system at Suna Academy and Gaara was always teamed with us. I think it might be the better choice. It has worked in the past", she couldn´t imagine how fast they would be in trouble, if Gaara was forced to team up with three total strangers and actually work _with_ them _._

Tsunades hazel eyes narrowed slightly, while her eyes slowly wandered from Temaris anxious expression, to Kankuros annoyance and Gaaras trademark emotionlessness. "Would you prefer that?", she asked Gaara. He nodded curtly and Tsunade leaned back in her chair and thought for a moment. "I will be honest. We usually don´t make exceptions. Teams are also an opportunity to socialize and Gaara already doesn´t have a roommate. I will allow it for now". Temari sighed relieved.

"Now to you two. Temari, your roommate is Tenten Liu and Kankuro, yours is Rock Lee. I planned to have your roommates and Gaaras team show you around, they should be here soon. Here are your timetables", she handed them to Temari, who passed them out.

"If you have any further questions, you can ask them now. After this you will have to ask Shizune or your classmates. I am the headmistress after all".

"Erm", Kankuro had raised his hand, apparently he had stumbled upon the same mistake in his schedule as Temari had found in hers. "I did _not_ sign up for Health-Class or Home-Education. And most certainly not for both", he remarked. "Yes. Well you see, it is a subject at Konoha-Academy. The higher years have Health- and Home-Education. You will see, however, that you are only compelled to take the subjects for one double-period a week. What you will learn in class depends on the teacher".

Temari shared a look of shock with her twin. _One double-period a week? Okay, no sweat, you can pull that off, Temari. All those stupid girly-girls are good at that stuff, right? Can´t be that hard then..._ The truth was, she was horrified. She had never had to do much cleaning or cooking before.

When she had been little, they had had servants to do it, and after their father had fallen from grace and succumbed to alcohol, Temari had worked after school and only done the most basic cleaning.

Which hadn´t made that much of a difference. Suna was a town of dust and sand, and even when she kept the windows closed Gaara always seemed to carry sand everywhere. Of course she had never complained about it, but each time she took a vacuum to the floor, it was covered in more sand than the goddamn desert two hours later!

 _Kankuro should be fine though. After all he was the one, who did the cooking. Granted, he probably never touched a duster, but still. Gaara on the other hand will be lost like me._ She knew that her brother must have done some cleaning, because no one ever dared to touch his belongings, and yet she had only seen his room neat and clean. But if he ever touched a broom or a pot, she and Kankuro had never seen it.

 _Maybe he cleaned at night. Constant Insomnia must be pretty boring._ The door behind them flew open, and a green _thing_ entered in a flash. "Dynamic entry!", sounded a way to cheerful voice, and the figure came to a halt in front of them, one hand on his hip, one finger stretched into the air like a 70s-Disco-Idol. The teenager -it seemed to be a teenager- though his round black eyes looked childish, flashed them a dazzling grin.

 _His teeth are actually shining! He looks like a freaking toothpaste-ad!_ For some reason he already annoyed Temari to no end. _First girl-accesories in the hallway and now him. Are all guys around here like that?_ She prayed to the gods, that that wasn´t the case. It wasn´t like Temari was actively searching for a romantic relationship, but the few guys back in Suna, that had dared to asked her out, had been welcome attention. One of them had even been bearable enough to date for a while.

 _And_ none _of them would ever have worn a green spandex and brown leg-warmers with... is that seriously a red belt?_ Except for Shizune, who wore a simple enough gray Kimono, every citizen of Konoha seemed colorful to the extreme. That Naruto-guy with his blazing orange, this weirdo here in his green, possibly-fetish-related, horror get-up and even Tsunade, whose blouse was in a slightly milder tone of green had a red circle with a kanji on her back.

"Doors are for knocking, Lee", Tsunade said in the exhausted tone of someone, who explained something for the hundredth time. "My apologies, oh youthful headmistress!", Lee made a deep exaggerated bow, like a character from a childrens cartoon might. Tsunade smiled contently. "You are forgiven". _Calling her "young", I should memorize that to smooth things over, once my brothers start getting into trouble._

"And you may enter Tenten", Tsunade gestured towards the door where a girl with warm chocolate eyes and slightly darker hair, that was done up in two neat buns, had waited patiently leaning against the frame. Temari felt her own shoulders relax. Tenten wore normal capri-trousers in black and a light-blue chinese top. _No spandex, no kicking doors in, or general weirdness. Poor Kankuro. Lucky me._

Temari wasn´t quite sure, if one of Tentens parents was actually chinese, but her slightly almond shaped eyes, her skin-tone and her clothes gave of the air of at least a bit chinese heritage. "Hi, I am Temari", Temari offered her roommate-to-be her hand. Tentens grip was firm, but polite and she smiled. "Tenten", she said.

They measured each other silently for a moment. Tenten didn´t seem like a very girly girl. She held herself with confidence, her pretty heart-shaped face rather serious and her bangs fell neatly, giving no indication of a girl, who constantly worried about trifles or had a nervous disposition, that had her always running fingers through her hair.

 _Maybe I can actually make a female friend for once. In the very least living with her should be alright._ Temari was glad she didn´t hate her roommate on sight. That happened to her with more than enough people as it was.

"And I am the noble savage of Konoha-Acadamy. Rock Lee!", the creepy spandex-kid dazzled another smile and gave a double thumps-up. Then something dimmed the smile down, and Lee knitted his extremely thick eyebrows. Temari got the impression, that everything about him was extreme. _And in an extremely bad way too..._

"Are you wearing purple lipstick?", he sounded rather curious than offended. "No", Kankuro hissed the word like a cobra and sounded twice as venomous. Temari smiled. Her brother was prickly enough about his art as it was. _Lee is cruising for a bruising. But not in the headmistress´ office._ Temari ever so slightly brushed Kankuros sleeve. His neck-muscles remained strained.

"Oh, you are all here already!", Naruto was back. He grinned. "I told Sakura, she memorized Sasukes timetable, so she is bringing him here", Tsunade frowned. "That won´t be necessary. The student in question was already paired with a different team".

Narutos face fell. He looked like a kid, who was told that christmas had been canceled. "But you said, we would get the new guy! You said so. I thought maybe", he paced nervously up and down mumbling to himself. "Okay. Okay. No distracting Sasuke then... I could just ask her... only shot me down twice".

"What? You dare defile Sakuras honor with your class-less wooing?", Lee, who had overheard Naruto too, launched into a horrible sonnet about Sakuras blossoming youth. Temari glanced at her siblings. Kankuros face was caught somewhere between frowning about Lees comment about lipstick, and being disgusted by his hopeless poetry. He was paling with each new line of "The cherry-blossoms blossoming beauty".

Gaara had crossed his arms over his chest and stood with eyes closed, like he usually did. _At least he doesn´t let it bother him. Good._

"We should get going, Lee... Lee!", Tenten expertly cut in and dragged Lee towards the door by his arm. She motioned for them to follow her out of the office and through the double doors leading to the girls corridor. Temari was surprised by the length of it. Of course she had seen the building from the outside, but still... It would probably take a minute to reach the western staircase at the end of the corridor. Much more, if it was crowded with students.

"The first room is always for the teacher, who has to chaperon", Tenten waved at the first blank wooden door. All other doors had a brass number attached and a whiteboard. Some were artfully decorated, some just had messages for the inhabitants scribbled under their names.

"Here", Tenten finally stopped at a door two thirds of the way to the western staircase. "Nr. 9. I have black, red, blue and green. But if you want another color, Sakura and Ino have all sorts of them. Like two rainbows and one unicorn-farm", she snorted.

"Black is fine", Temari retrieved the marker from the box at the lower end of the whiteboard and wrote her name on the right side of the board. Tenten had written her name in simple black letters on top of her side. No pictures of flowers, just a few messages, most sprawled in big green writing.

" _WELCOME BACK TO ANOTHER YEAR OF YOUR SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH! :D_

 _OH AND ALSO: TEAM-MEETING AT THE USUAL SPOT, THURSDAY!- M.G."_

" _HAVING A COLD IN SUMMER IS A LACK OF EXERCISE, NOT FROM TAKING A NIGHT-SWIMMING-WORKOUT WITH YOUR TEAM. PUSH-UPS, PUSH-UPS, PUSH-_

 _UPS!- M.G."_

" _TENTEN, MY DEAR COMPANNION. YOU WERE ASLEP, SO I LEAFT YOU SOME CURRY ON YOUR DESK - R.L"_

Temari had the sneaking suspicion that "R.L." was Rock Lee. The writing was all in crooked capital letters with spelling mistakes. _But who is "M.G."? He also writes in capital letters._ "Yeah, the green marker has to be replaced more often", Tenten smiled apologetic and opened the door.

The room was surprisingly nice. Opposite the door two desks sat side by side in front of the windows, right and left were little night-stands, on Tentens side of the room decorated with a framed photograph facing her bed, a novel, a dark orange lampion-lamp with two black Kanjis and a small wooden box.

Temari vaguely registered, that Tentens bed-sheets had a pleasant enough gray-blue, that would go well with Temaris own mostly lilac or purple sheets, and that at the foot of each bed a wardrobe offered place enough for their clothes. "Nice rug", Temari remarked. It was again a simple piece and in about the same blue as Tentens bed-sheets. She didn´t particularly like it, but it was the only thing in the room, that Tenten allowed to cross the imaginary middle-line. Apparently she liked it a lot.

"Thank you", the brunette smiled. "The vanity in the corner is meant for both of us, since your side has the door to the bathroom", she pointed at the vanity by her own dresser, that seemed to hold mail and a bowl with keys, whereas the same space on Temaris side of the room held a bookshelf with a neat line-up of sandals in front of it, and the bathroom-door. The only extraordinary thing Temari noticed was the collection of Kunai, Shuriken and what looked like a very modern sport-bow and arrow nailed to the wall over Tentens bed.

Tenten scratched her neck. "Yeah... I am a bit of a weapons-enthusiast", she admitted. Temari nodded. "Okay. I would like to put my big fan up on my side. It looks like this one, just larger", she pulled her fan out of her backpack and showed it to Tenten. "Oh thank god! I feared you might be like Ino, plastering the entire wall witch flowers, or Sakura, putting up revision-schedules for class".

"Are all the rooms like this?", asked Kankuro skeptically. "Oh, no, my companion! Our room is a bit more energetic!", exclaimed Lee and pointed at Tentens weapons-collection. "A work-out poster up there. Walls in the green of spring! A bar for chin-ups in the door and a yoga-mat right next to the bed for morning and evening exercise. Imagine a-"

"I meant the furniture"

"Oh. Well, yeah that is the same everywhere"

Temari took one last look around and nodded. "Okay, let´s get on with it".

Tenten led them back to where Shizune was residing behind her desk. A pink-haired girl in a red dress, who had bright green eyes, seemed to be arguing with Naruto. She was waving her hands, obviously scolding him. "...getting us out of class, when the whole thing fell through! You interrupted Biology. We have a quiz next week!".

As they got closer, Temari noticed, a third figure, watching the girl, probably Sakura, and Naruto. He was a very good-looking boy with just enough boredom and arrogance in his demeanor to be... cool. There was no other word for it.

He looked cool in a devil-may-care kind of way and wore a dark-blue T-Shirt and black jeans complimenting his fair skin. His jet-black hair stood up in what probably was the look Naruto had failed to archive.

Rock Lee ran ahead to make a fool of himself in front of the pink-haired girl, confirming Temaris suspicion, that it was indeed the infamous Sakura. At least it looked to Temari, like he was making a fool of himself. _On the other hand I should be glad. If that idiot wasn´t practically shooting hearts from his eyes at Pinky, I would still be staring at the hot guy._

The guy was watching their group and Temari had the sneaking suspicion, that he was just one look over her shoulder or slight blush away from directing his arrogance at her and throwing her in his fangirl-bin. All the more surprised she was, that he called out after them. "Hey, you. What is your name?"

"Me?", Temari asked and turned around. By the way, how Naruto and Lee stared at the guy, who had now pushed of the banister he had been leaning against, it was not an everyday occurrence. The pink-haired girl quickly looked Temari up and down, eyes hovering over her chest and fishnet-clad legs for a second, and proceeded to watch the black-haired boy, biting her slightly trembling lower lip. _Pathetic._

"No", the guy dead-panned, and Temari couldn´t help the brief sinking feeling, that overcame her. _At least I don´t look at him like the camel at the oasis._ She sneered at Sakura.

"You with the red hair". Gaara who had walked a few steps in front of his siblings turned around. _He was watching Gaara then. Interesting._ Temari raised an eyebrow at the stranger, whose pitch-black eyes were fixed on Gaara. "What is your name?", he wanted to know. Gaara considered for a second. "Sabakuno Gaara. What is yours?"

The boy looked pleased at the question. "Uchiha Sasuke". Something about the look that Uchiha guy wore now- Cold, determined, eager. Reminded Temari an awful lot of Gaara. Her disappointment from before suddenly seemed silly. She had enough on her hands with one psychopath, she _definitely_ didn´t need another.

 _And since when, am I impressed by a pretty face, anyway?_ She scolded herself. _Even if it is a_ very _pretty face, s_ he admitted. Her very own psychopath eyed the Uchiha with an actual bit of interest, probably lost on everyone, who didn´t know Gaara the appropriate amount of years, it took to recognize the lifting of the chin my a few millimeters meant some sort of alerted.

Temari was pleased at the quick flash of anger, passing the Uchihas features, as Gaara simply turned around and went on. _Spoon full of his own medicine._ Sometimes it was nice to be Gaaras sibling. Kankuro and she exchanged a look and raised eyebrows, while Sakura and Naruto both hastily spoke in hushed voices now. Temari heard Sasukes name and knew, that they tried to convince him not to go after their little group.

When she had thought before, that she was glad, that she didn´t have Lee as a roommate, she only learned how much she really meant that, when he opened the door to what can only be called a green hell.

He hadn´t been kidding about the obviously green yoga-mat in front of his bed and the amount of motivational sport-posters and weights was abhorrent. Unlike Tenten he hadn´t been bothered to stay clear of one side of the room and had exercised his personality on everything in the vicinity. Temaris eyes wandered to the photographs above his headboard.

In most pictures was Lee with a guy who could only be his father, or his older self travelled back from the future. The theory of time-travel had always been a bit crazy in Temaris opinion, but seeing these identical haircuts and outfits of green spandex, it suddenly started to look just as probable, as the possibility of _two_ people like Lee being out there.

In a few group pictures she recognized Tenten to her surprise. The calm brunette hardly seemed the type to be friends with Lee. Lee, his father, Tenten and some blind guy with weird pearlescent eyes.

"Shut up, brat!", Kankuro snapped. Temari had tuned out Lees tirade and was surprised to be woken out of her stupor. "I am _not_ staying here", Kankuro dead-panned. He grinded his teeth and took a deep breath. "Gaara?", he asked. _Right, Tsunade mentioned, Gaara didn´t have a roommate._

"What do you mean saying here in that tone?", Lee interrupted. Kankuro sneered looking around the room. "I hate green"

"What?", from the look on Lees face, it would have been kinder to just slap him. "H-hate", his eyes were actually filling with tears "Green", he said. "Keep it together, Lee", Tenten chucked him over the shiny black head. Apparently it beat some sense back in.

"I have been wanting the camaraderie of roommate-ship, ever since my last one abandoned me!", said Lee puffing up his chest like a knight in a tournament "I shall concede to", he took a deep breath "repaint your half white", he took a dramatic sigh. "Or purple. Like your lipstick"

"That is a tattoo!"

Temari took hold of Kankuros sleeve and held on to it, even when he growled at her. She was well aware, that he was stronger than her. Strong enough to yank his sleeve free, but she also knew, that his supply of cat-eared hoodies was limited, now that they had left Suna.

And he knew it too, or he would have risked tearing it. Kankuro was hot-headed, always ready to fight. Or to pick a fight...

"Where did his other roommate go?", Temari addressed Tenten. "I thought teammates were supposed to room together?".

"Yes. Neji", the brunette spoke the name carefully dragging it out ever so slightly, as if she cherished saying it. "That is him", the tenderness of her voice briefly showed on her face as she smiled and pointed at the blind guy in the pictures. Temari noted, that in most pictures Tenten was next to him, building a sort of barrier between Neji and the two green-clad lunatics.

"He is our teammate. And that is our tutor. Maito Guy", she pointed at the figure, Temari had tabbed as Lees father. Tenten guessed her thoughts "He isn´t related to Lee", she chuckled "I think Tsunade ran a paternity-test just to make sure. Parents not supposed to teach their own kids and so on. Anyway. Neji and Lee used to room together, but Neji moved out of room nine. He is in room eleven now. His cousin, Hinata, also lives alone. Officially I think they have a sleeping disorder, requiring absolute calm to sleep, but in reality their family pretty much runs this place. Hyuuga Incorporated. You have probably heard of it. They donate loads of money", she shrugged. "Neji loves to be alone. You can ask, of course, but I wouldn´t get my hopes up".

They stopped at room eleven, where Kankuro left a message on Nejis board, that he would like to change rooms, and proceeded down the hall, all the way to the eastern staircase, which was smaller than the central staircase, allowing only one line of students going up and one down at the same time.

Tenten led them one floor down, where Gaaras room was right next to the staircase. The brass sign read "S". "Sickroom", Tenten explained "but the school furnished it with the usual".

Gaara went in shutting the door roughly in all of their faces, and came out twenty seconds later, closing the door behind him. "Get going", he commanded a slightly offended Tenten. Whatever he had done in the room, Temari could only guess.

Tenten shrugged. "Well we are going to show you guys the gym, the cafeteria and part of the grounds, but if you would like to see something specific, like where your first classes are held, you just have to say so"

"I think we are good", said Temari. "Maybe you", Kankuro huffed.

"Where do you guys sneak out to?", her brother asked.

Tenten bit her lip. Rock Lee, who had trodden behind them with his head hanging, ever since Kankuro had scribbled on Nejis whtieboard, perked up visibly. "Oh that-"

"Lee!", Tenten measured them with looks. She was clearly contemplating, whether whoever else was hanging out with, would be fine with it. Maybe she was trying to determine, if that group would kick her out, if she told them. In all honesty, Temari was just glad, that Tenten wasn´t a social-outcast even though she was friends with Lee of all people.

"Let it go. They obviously shouldn´t tell us", Temari said. Tenten blushed. "Erm- I guess it´s alright. A few of us occasionally go to parties in town, the youngers sometimes go to Narutos, or the students meet outside in the woods, and then there are a few nooks inside the school people... well go to", she blushed furiously now, and turned on the spot to continue down the staircase.

Temari gave Kankuro a scathing look, but he only shrugged. The bell ringing throughout the school brought an end to Tentens plan of showing them to their classrooms, since the corridors were suddenly stuffed with students.

While they went down to the first floor, a line of students making their way up passed them. All three siblings were stared at. Their different clothing and new faces drew many a curious look, and Temari was glad, that her brothers with their tattoos and especially Gaara with his eyeliner and haircolor got most of the attention.

When they reached the second floor, Tenten opened a door to the gym. They were in the ranks overlooking the three sections of the giant hall, which was divided into three halls by large curtains. To Temaris dismay the sight of the gym restored Lees personality to its former state. He jogged ahead and around them, while they walked the length of the gym, and told them about all sorts of competitions, that were held at Konoha-Academy.

"Suck it Konoha-High!", he exclaimed, punching the air, when they reached the other side before Tenten lead them down a staircase to where the changing rooms and showers were below the ranks, they had just walked. Like in every gym-class a few students were dawdling behind, trying to "accidentally" miss a few minutes.

"Konoha-High is the local High School. It´s all the way to the south. You don´t have to pass the exam to join. I think you also have an Academy and a regular school in Suna, right?", Tenten asked. Temari nodded, even so a tiny part of herself wondered how guys like Lee or Naruto had passed the test. _Maybe Konoha-Acadamy is just not as strict._

"Now you wanna watch the staircases", Tenten said. "I suggest you take your time today. Walk to the classrooms, you have on your first day. It can be quite tricky to be on time. Unless your classroom is next to the central staircase you usually don´t have the time to walk there, so you will be tardy unless you search for the right staircases between the central ones. The music and art classes for example are on the same floor, but the door to the eastern staircase is always locked, and the corridor is divided by a wall, so watch your way down".

Tenten continued to show them the cafeteria and then Lee led them outside to the back-side of the school, where the grounds began. Temari stopped dead in her tracks. "What is it?", Lee asked confused. _What is it indeed?_

Temari and Gaara had made the trip to the country of fire by plane, and Kankuro, who had driven their car across the border, had picked them up at the airport. Temari had spent the morning in the car watching the green landscape. But airports weren´t exactly famous for their greeneries, and the rest of the ride had been more like watching a movie behind the glass.

Now they stood on a meadow, sloping all the way down to a lake. They followed a path to the right, where a line of trees and several yards of wildflowers in yellow, red and white stood. Temari stared at the tree next to her. _It is so different._

She had obviously seen forests in movies and pictures, but the real deal was something else. She wanted to go and inspect one of the strange trees, but the thought how ridiculous that would look stopped her. _Keep it together,_ she scolded herself. She would have time for this later. She couldn´t help but let her fingers brush over the next few trees though.

It was just a thin line of forest, hardly a hundred yards. They followed the path and Temari turned her head to take it all in. The roots marring the earth, the green, the cool of the shadow one or two squirrels. The leaves above their heads were dark-green in the September-sun. _How this must look in spring, when everything is fresh..._

She shook her head marveling at her surroundings, as a gush of wind suddenly reached them. Her first instinct was, that they must return to the school, and by the way, Kankuro stopped and Gaara squared his shoulders she could tell, they too had felt the instinct.

However it was no sand-storm coming. Nothing that required them to immediately search shelter. _The wind is only so loud because of the leaves,_ she realised. Wind that was this loud in the desert meant danger if not life-threatening sandstorms.

Temari listened closely. She loved the winds of the deserts. Even the raging sand-storms. It was nice to be able to listen to the wind so clearly without the danger of death or constantly getting sand and dust in your face. _Maybe we can really build us a life here. Maybe they don´t mess it up._

Before her her brothers unfroze as well, and without Tenten or Lee noticing anything, they left the treeline behind. "Now this is the field. Our famous Konoha-Acadamy-stadion!", Lee made a showy kind of gesture towards it, like the host of a TV-show and started to list sports in the order he liked them best.

Tenten shook her head at his antics, as they made their way around the field, while Lee pointed out, the running tracks and some of the other features explaining to the Sabakunos, that the students chunin-exams would be hosted by Konoha-Acadamy this year.

"They know that already, idiot", Tenten scolded "They transferred from Suna-Academy. Suna also participates in the competitions. Are you allowed to compete? I mean you left your teams behind, didn´t you?"

"We are a team", Temari explained. "WHAT?! I thought you were siblings! Aren´t teams in Suna of the same age?", Lee exclaimed.

"They are", Temari confirmed.

"We aren´t", Gaara deadpanned.

Gaaras tone was final and luckily neither Tenten nor Lee pressed the point why or how they had ended up as a team. By the way they exchanged a look Temari could tell, they were curious though.

Lee and Tenten showed them the mentioned party-location in the woods, the student-garden, where apparently pupils were gardening herbs, plants and flowers, all strange and colorful and then returned to the back-doors.

"So", Tenten said "well the official tour is over, but if you have questions, you are of course free to ask either of us. In five minutes it is lunch-time, if you wanna come...", she left the invitation hanging in the air.

Gaara simply turned around and walked away. "Thanks, I think I am gonna unpack first", Temari excused herself. She was hungry, but she didn´t want to let Gaara wander of by himself just yet. Kankuro however followed Tenten and Lee inside, asking the brunette, if she could maybe point out Neji.

Temari took a deep breath of the sweet wet air and followed Gaara with considerable distance. It was pointless to try and hide her presence, her brother always knew, when he was being followed. If he didn´t tell her off, it meant he didn´t mind her that much.

Gaara walked down the entire lawn towards the lake. Temari was a little surprised. _What does he want there? It is just like an oasis, if he was walking to the trees I would get it. They are interesting, but- oh..._ She finally saw, where Gaara was headed. The lake was surrounded by a little strip of probably artificial beach.

Gaara sat down in the sand and buried his hands in it, stretching his fingers. Temari was unsure what to do. She stood a few feet behind her brother. Obviously he missed home. Temari wasn´t surprised. Gaara loved the desert even more than her or Kankuro.

"We are going to compete for Suna", her brother said. "Excuse me?", now that he had acknowledged her presence she sat down two feet from him, and stretched out her legs on the sand. "The chunin-competition. We are not competing for these tree-huggers", her brother explained. "Oh, that. Well we might not have a choice. We _did_ just transferred to Konoha-Acadamy..."

"I don´t care. You make it so"

"Gaara, that is a bit out of my reach. I-", she started to fan her face nervously and sighed. "I can ask Tsunade, but think about it: Why would Konoha-Acadamy accept us in the first place? They probably did it, to use our talents in competitions. Getting a higher ranking as an academy and so on..."

"I said I don´t care. I meant it"

"So what? Either Tsunade lets us compete for Suna, or we don´t compete at all?"

"What I said"

"But Gaara! Kankuro has been training for this like crazy! He needs it to reach the next level as a puppeteer. Only as a chunin he can find a decent puppet-master to train him further. You can´t expect us to-"

"I can, and I do", he glared at her "We have to compete as a team. We all have to agree. If we don´t compete for Suna, I won´t agree"

"But-"

"No but Temari!", he hit the sand with one of his fists. Like usually it made a little wave. Temari had grown up in the desert too, but she knew no one, who could move sand like Gaara. In his hands it seemed like water. "Sabakuno Temari", he hit the sand again "Sabakuno Kankuro", another hit "Sabakuno Gaara. Sabakuno, of the desert. We aren´t teaming up with the tree-huggers! Kankuro is a puppeteer, he will understand that it is a trade of Suna. Of the _desert_ ".

Temari blinked. That was a rare display of family-unity.

"I will ask", she agreed "I don´t like the idea of competing for Konoha myself... We _are_ of Suna. I just hope Tsunade understands that. But if she doesn´t- No, Gaara, hear me out. If she doesn´t agree, we might have to compete for Konoha. She could kick us out, if we don´t..."

"Then let her kick us out. We can always return to Suna"

"We can´t. Or we can. I don´t know... I would just like to let things cool down over there. I kept our house to return to one day. You know that, right?"

"...Yes I do"

"Okay. I will ask Tsunade tomorrow"

"Ask her today. We might just save the unpacking"

"Gaara... You know, Kankuro and I also miss home, yes?", Temari wasn´t always sure, how much emotions Gaara could read in other peoples expressions. Sometimes, when it was important like now, she just had to make sure.

"You made us move. You wanted a clean slate in another town. Kankuro wanted to move to a town with a theater, where he is considered good enough to gain some stage experience. I would have sat it out. Don´t tell me, that that isn´t true. I don´t always know what is real, but I know this is".

Temari swallowed hard. "Yes. That is real, and true too. But we still miss home too. Kankuro is excited now, but in a few weeks he is going to be horribly home-sick. And I already miss the colors. This place looks like the teletubbie-land", she snorted. "Look at this sand", she held up a hand-full "that stuff is so fine you can use it for a bird-bath".

Gaaras expression remained impassive. He closed his eyes and Temari sat silently beside him for a while. She was never sure how to show Gaara, that she cared. She wasn´t a touchy-feely person, and usually she didn´t go out of her way to show any emotion, but elder Chiyo had told her, that it could well be, that Gaara didn´t pick up on more subtle emotions in others.

The problem was just, that when she made an effort, it could always backfire, and it often ended with Gaara using it mercilessly to manipulate or hurt her. Kankuro had told her more than once to give it up already, but as the person officially responsible for Gaara Temari wanted to do a better job, than the predecessor of her position.

 _I even moved us. A clean slate, nobody knows what happened, nobody knows what we did. Maybe it will be alright in the end. Maybe Gaara does get better with a new therapist. Just one bit of normality._

"Temari?"

"Yeah?"

"Leave me alone and ask Tsunade. Now"

 _Or maybe one of us will finally kill the other two._ She got up and brushed the sand of her tights and lilac dress. And maybe, just maybe she was slightly aiming in Gaaras direction. She straightened out the long dark-red scarf, fastened around her waist, and marched of towards the school.

"Fucking Candyland!", she liked the trees because of the wind, but the flowers? She shook her head, just as her foot got caught on something, and she toppeled over.

Her hands were throbbing from the impact, the exceedingly green grass was poking at her face and by the dull pain in her knees she guessed, that another pair of tights had ripped. However none of that bothered her as much as the fact, that whatever she had stumbled over, was _moving._ And what was worse warm and moving.

 _Snakes? Hyena? Right, I am in Konoha. What do they have here? Wolves?_

"Troublesome", sounded a muffled and slightly annoyed voice. Temari turned over. A lanky guy with spiky black hair in a pineapple up-do and sleep in his black eyes was rubbing said eyes. Temari, who had just realized, that from his position he could easily peek under her lilac dress, scrambled to her feet.

"What did you kick me for anyway? I thought you were Ino", the guy yawned heartedly. Temari huffed. "I didn´t kick you. You tripped me! What are you doing, lying in the grass, when school isn´t over yet?".

"Is lunch over?", he asked.

"Maybe", she stalked towards the school. Only to hear him walking behind her. She turned around "Are you following me?", she snapped. Now that they were standing she noticed, that he was taller than her. Something that rarely happened.

The guy winced at her volume and scratched his neck. "Calm down", he mumbled almost incomprehensibly and yawned again. "Not like there are many ways to the school, is it?", apparently he was not only skipping classes, but also to lazy to speak properly.

"Excuse me?"

He looked at her for a moment, as if he was collecting his thoughts again. Temari was pretty sure, that he was stoned at this point. "Do I know you?", he asked confused. Apparently his brain had finally processed, that she was new. "I make it a habit not to know people like you", she sneered and marched of. Despite his longer legs he didn´t keep up. Idiots like him never could.

* * *

I hope you liked it! I don´t have a lot of experience as an author so feedback is very much welcomed. Also English is not my first language so bear with me ;)


	2. A FREE PERIOD

Disclaimer: I still don´t own Naruto or the characters.

* * *

KANKUROS POV- A FREE PERIOD

Sabakuno Kankuro lounged on the chair in front of his sisters desk and watched her measuring dots on the wall with a water-scale. Temari could be quite the perfectionist. She adjusted the left dot for the tenth time. "Do you think this is even?", she asked.

"It was even fifteen minutes ago, it is even now"

"Don´t be ridiculous. I changed it since then"

"By _millimeters,_ Mari"

"Is it even, or not? I can´t see from here"

Kankuro sighed and took a few steps back. Temari was holding up her big fan in front of the wall. "It´s even", he said and sat back down. "Are you sure?" "Yes. Of course", he rolled his eyes, while she began to hammer nails into the marked spots. "So how was lunch?", she asked. Kankuro rubbed his temples "Horrible. Simply horrible".

"I take it, Neji doesn´t let you room with him then?"

"No, he doesn´t. And also he is an arse. And he totally has a stick up his arse too. I don´t know which is worse. He has a holier-than-thou-attitude that would put a saint to shame"

Temari chuckled and hoisted her fan up on the nails. "If I were you, I couldn´t get a minutes sleep, lying under that. Are you sure it´s gonna hold?", he eyed the construction suspiciously. Temari stepped down from her bed and restored the tools Kankuro had `borrowed` from the janitor back in their box. "Will do", she said "Did you finish unpacking?".

"Not like any of us has a lot of stuff left, right? Anyway. What did you ask me here for?"

"Right", Temari started rummaging through her trunk for her sheets and started making her bed. "Gaara wanted me to got to Tsunade about the chunin-exams"

"Why? Baki had us sign up already"

"Yeah, but Gaara threatened to blow it, if we can´t compete for Suna, so I went and asked"

"And?"

"And, I only reached Shizune. She said, she will tell Tsunade, but if you ask me, they only accepted us, to use us for competitions and stuff. I expect them to turn it down", she sighed. Kankuro blinked "That was so important? Doesn´t sound like an issue to me". Temari gave him an incredulous look. "You trained for this for months! You have to become a chunin, if you want to become a master of the puppeteer-guild. Ar you seriously telling me, you don´t care all of a sudden?".

Kankuro shrugged. "So what? They don´t let us compete for Suna, we move back and compete anyway. No biggie, Temari. Besides you can become a master by other means, if you really want to. Sasori did it"

"Yeah, but Sasori happened to be the puppet-master of the century", she reminded him. "What is it to me? The century isn´t over yet. I still have plenty of time", he winked at her, and saw an involuntary smile twitch her lips.

"Not the point", she continued then "I don´t want us to move. Not even for the chunin-competition. I want, you, Gaara and me in Konoha-Acadamy. I want a fresh start... and a bit mundane normality. No psychiatry, no trials, no school conferences", she glanced at him.

"So _that_ is why you wanted to see me. No worries so far, Mari. But then again I have hardly seen any of the teachers- Ouch!", she had boxed his arm. "No seducing teachers, Kankuro! I don´t care, what your reasons are. Just get a boyfriend your own age, for a change... Or a girlfriend. Whatever", she shook her head "I don´t want to move us, but I don´t want you to miss the competition either", she sat down on her bed and sighed.

"What am I supposed to do? If we move back Gaara will never have a real chance to get better and make friends and if we stay, you can´t enter the competition... Either way I am going to disappoint one of you", it was such a rare sight, that Temari asked for advise, that Kankuro was startled for a moment.

"Well, don´t worry about it. Maybe it won´t come to it"

"But what if it does? What if it does come to it?", she looked at him pleadingly. _She really does need my help with this,_ Kankuro realized. Sometimes it was hard to remember, that Temari could also struggle with a decision. She was usually so self-confident and organized, that it was easy to forget, she was still seventeen, just like him.

Kankuro swallowed and thought about the issue at hand. He offered her a reassuring smile. "Look. You asked me, if I was okay with moving. I agreed. This isn´t just about Gaara, this is also a fresh start for us. If it comes down to moving back, or staying, we stay. I can enter the competition next year. Either Gaara or Tsunade have changed their minds until then, or I can move back alone, join another team in Suna. That might not be perfect, but lets be honest", he patted her arm "if `perfect` happened to us, you would probably die of shock".

"Idiot", she slapped his hand "Would you really do that?", he could read in her eyes, that she meant it. If he said yes now, he gave her his word. No going back.

Kankuro hesitated and bit his lip. "Yes,,. If that is necessary I will. Mind you it will break my new hot teachers heart, but- Dammit, Mari! Stop hitting me already". For a moment the twins sat in companionable silence. Kankuros mind wandered of all the way back to Suna.

Temari had been so thrilled, when she had found a boarding-school of their level, that was willing to accept them. And it had been easy to get infected by it. _A fresh start. For all of us._ A fresh start was always an entrancing idea. Alone the thought to live in a town, where nobody hated them, was comforting.

To be honest Kankuro, like his twin, had gotten used to the snide comments, the wanna-be-bullies and occasional street-gang, bugging them, but he knew, somewhere deep down, that there was another way. That it could be easier.

It didn´t matter, that they could all fight back, and protect themselves now, because no matter how many people they defeated, and how easy that became as the years passed, they were still attacked. Still constantly on the look-out. Over a decade and Kankuro still had enough fingers to count the people, who had considered changing their minds about them. That number mostly consisted of Chiyo, Temaris and some of his ex´ and on a good day Baki.

 _If you cut that down further, we have one person, who is bound to spend time with us, because he is our teacher, one old lady, who was friends with our mother and feels compelled to help us out and a bunch of people who wanted sex. It doesn´t really matter, what the price is. Moving was a good idea anyway_. "You made the right call, Temari. Moving us was a good idea", he said, before he left her and Tentens room.

Kankuro decided, that now was the best time to unpack and maybe polish his marionettes a little. _Before Lee, gets out of class_ . He sighed as he walked down the central staircase to find the janitors closet he had nicked the tools from. _No harm done_ , he mused, as he picked the lock and put the box back on the shelf. _Maybe they have some paint to get rid of that green?_

He searched every corner of the shelves four times. After giving up the last hope, to repaint the walls completely before Lee could protest, Kankuro closed the closet again. "We saw that". Kankuro spun around. A teenager with wild brown hair, dark eyes, red markings in his face and very prominent almost fang-like teeth grinned at him. Beside him a small cream-colored dog with brown ears watched Kankuro curiously.

Kankuro put his hands in the pockets of his black sweat-pants. "So?", he asked, crooking his head slightly. The teenager raised his brows "Nothing?", he asked. _Clean-slate. Fresh start. Don´t pick fights._ Temaris voice seemed to resound in his head. Kankuro relaxed his strained neck muscles and shoulders and the tension diffused.

"So what are you doing out of class, spying on people?", he asked. The guy grinned "I have a free period", he said and bowed down to pet his dog. "Do you _have_ a free period or did you _take_ one?", Kankuro inquired. The boy had an odd barking laugh. He was wearing a fur-lined jacket and navy-blue capri-shorts. Some sort of chain dangling by his side suggested, that he kept his wallet in his pocket.

"You noticed, hm? I am Kiba and this is Akamaru", he pointed at the dog, which gave a single bark, like a confirmation. "Damn it Akamaru! How often do I have to tell you, that you are the only dog in this school? If you want to greet people, wait til´ we are out of earshot from the class we are skipping", he scolded the dog and scooped him up, simply putting it on his head.

"Kiba?", asked a voice from a staircase. Kibas eyes went wide, as the speaker was obviously coming closer. "Run", he said and made his way down another staircase between two classrooms. Two floors further down, Kankuro realized, that he wouldn´t even have needed to hide. _Force of habit,_ he mussed.

"I am Kankuro, by the way", he introduced himself. Kiba nodded "You are one of the transfers. Naruto kind of pointed you out over lunch", Kankuro immediately picked up on the odd choice of words.

"Kind of pointed me out?", he asked. Kiba flashed a guilty smile "He is a good guy, Naruto. Really. But his exact words might have been ´That goth-kid with the weirdo-hoodie´. Don´t hold it against him, he had just gotten rejected by Sakura for like the millionth time".

"Aha", Kankuro nodded, but mentally added Narutos name to the list of people, he would punch in the face without pre-text, should they make a comment like that, where he could hear it. He saw, how Kibas eyes narrowed for a second. Obviously he had just spotted Kankuros purple lips, but chose not to comment. _You better, Mr. Red-stripes,_ Kankuro thought.

"So, you are staying with Neji or Lee?", Kiba asked. "Lee", Kankuros dismay must have shown on his face, because Kiba gave his shoulder, a very rough but probably friendly clap. Kankuro made a mental note not to pick a fight with Kiba. Only if possible of course. The guy seemed to be strong and have fingernails like claws. "I am rooming with Shino. I get it", he said.

"Who is Shino?", Kankuro asked, keeping up with Kiba, who had started walking to some unknown destination. "My teammate and friend. He is like the opposite of Lee. Pretty calm and quiet, but he is also a bug-enthusiast. His side of the room is practically stacked with insects. Dead or alive", he made a face "but then again Akamarus hair pretty much gets everywhere so I shouldn´t complain". The dog on his head barked again.

"I shall never forget the month he decided to study the breeding of cockroaches though", Kiba shuddered "And neither will Tsunade or the rest of the school for that matter. It did get a bit out of hand... Especially in the cafeteria". Kankuro swallowed hard. He was gaining the impression, that everyone in this school was crazy.

Kiba led them down another staircase, that ended in a small corridor. "This", he whispered "is the art-department. Quiet, now", his dog still on his head he tip-toed past a few classrooms to an unmarked door, he pulled a key from one of his pockets and opened the door inch by inch. It was ever so subtly creaking and Kankuro knew, it would have made a lot of noise, if Kiba had just pushed it open.

All the time they could hear the teachers voices from nearby classrooms and faint music, from the closed of corridor. Kankuro noticed, that the separation between the music and art classes was some sort of art in progress, as it was a wall covered from ceiling to floor in post-its. On a coffee-table next to it were markers and post-its so the students might add to the wall.

Finally the door was ajar, and Kiba motioned for him to follow him inside. "Don´t pull the door shut. It takes too long, to open", he turned on the light, and Kankuro finally realized, where they were. It was a storage room lined by shelves full of, glue, paper, paint and brushes.

Kiba expertly made his way over to a line of different buckets and grabbed one labeled "White". He grabbed two broad brushes and some tape and motioned for Kankuro to leave again. Kankuro, who had just spotted a glue-gun and a rack of fabrics, that made his finger itch to craft a new coat for his marionette left reluctantly.

When they were one floor up, he turned to Kiba. "How did you know?", he asked immediately. Kiba chuckled "I have been to Lees room. Mostly during that cockroach-month, but anyway", he shrugged. "You don´t strike me the guy for so much green".

"Thank you, I guess, but how did you get a key to the storage room?"

"Kurenai, my tutor, gave it to Hinata. We have an art-project due tomorrow"

"Hinata as in Nejis cousin?"

"Yeah, she´s my other teammate. You know her?"

"No. Just met Neji", Kankuro made a face. "Trust me", Kibas tone had cooled considerably and sounded very brisk now "you are better of with Lee. Neji is... Well he is _Neji_ ". "I would have gone with stuck-up git", Kankuro supplied.

"Right", Kiba grinned "So here´s the deal: I help you paint, so I can hide out while I should be in a double-period of mathematics. I swear Kurenai is getting crafty about hunting me down"

"Deal", Kankuro immediately agreed. _We might actually finish before Lee returns._

And so they did. One double-period of not-mathematics later, Kiba and Kankuro sat on the desk in Kibas room one floor lower, while the now mostly white room Nr. 9 was drying, and were smoking by the open window.

Kankuro had never made an acquaintance that fast. _In Suna nobody ever spoke with us. Nobody just helped us like that or was so nice,_ he mused. He was very well aware, that Kiba, like him was in a habit of avoiding mathematics where he could and Kankuro was one hundred percent sure, that he could have found another place to skip class any day.

"So what´s with the purple?", Kiba asked, taking a drag from, what Kankuro was pretty sure was a joint. Akamaru sat on the windowsill, his nose as far out as Kiba allowed him to go. Like his owner he had a sensitive nose and paint-fumes did nothing for their condition even if smoking was just fine.

"It´s the purple of the puppeteer-guild of Suna. You have probably heard of it", Kankuro explained. Kiba nodded "Everyone knows of the puppet-masters of the wind country. It´s like doctors or fire-breathers from Konoha. I never knew you guys tattooed your lips though"

"We don´t. Just me. It used to be tradition to paint ones face, including the lips, but most guys just wear a scarf or a bracelet or something like that today"

"I heard it is pretty tough to join the guild? That true?"

"Yes and no. If you really want it, joining is alright, but you have to train a lot, and climbing up the ranks, to actually master the art is tough", Kankuro answered. Kiba nodded "I get what you mean. See that?", he pointed at the red markings on his face.

"My families sign. My clan actually specializes in dogs. You´ll never find a better companion, than one from Inuzukas", he stroked Akamarus fur "but on the other hand it´s hard to be noticed. For everyone outside the clan Akamaru and I make a good team, and Akamaru is very smart and very well trained. If you compare it to the kind of level, my older relatives have archived though", he shook his head "then we have just started out".

There was a tentative knock at the door. "Come in!", Kiba called and the door swung open, revealing a girl with bangs and relatively short blueish black hair. She wore a beige jacket and blue jeans and held a few books and a folder closely pressed to her chest. Her entire stance, from her touching knees, over her blush and the finger pressed to her trembling lips screamed insecurity. _That is one for the vultures, as we say in Suna,_ Kankuro thought.

"Hinata!", Kiba exclaimed. "Come in, come in. This is Kankuro, he is new, does _not_ wear lipstick and was still already talked-down to by your _sweet_ cousin. What do you say?".

Hinatas eyes, which resembled her cousins in their milky lilac color, but were soft and warm, widened and the girl blushed like a tomato. _I have never seen someone blush that intensely. Lets see if she faints..._

But Kiba had different plans. He laughed and motioned for Hinata to come over and sit on the chair in front of the desk. "Just kidding, Hina. Just kidding", he reassured her. Hinata nodded, but she didn´t manage to look Kankuro in the eye. _Pathetic._

"So what brings you to my neck of the woods?", Kiba asked her. "E-e-e-hm", Hinata stuttered. _And of course she stutters as well,_ Kankuro shook his head and all but suppressed a sneer. He sensed Kiba wouldn´t approve of that. "I-i b-brought your h-homework", she handed Kiba a _very_ neatly written sheet of notes with an assignment at the end.

The Inuzuka sighed "Hinata. What is the point of me skipping class, if you won´t let me miss anything?", he complained, but took the notes from her anyway. "I-i am s-sorry Kiba". _I can´t believe it. She actually apologized for that?_ Kankuro gave Kiba a questioning look. The other teenager just shrugged.

"Nah, whatever. If I fail, you and Shino fail, right?", Hinata looked anywhere but towards Kiba now. Kankuro could tell she was panicking more and more by the minute. Akamaru who had been curled up on the desk, nose towards the window, trodded over to her and licked her hand. "Hello Akamaru", Hinata murmured and began to pet the small dog with trembling fingers. Kankuro caught Kiba winking at Akamaru, and could have sworn the dog returned the gesture.

"Well", Kankuro put his cigarette out in the ash-tray. "You got an art-project to finish and I have a noble savage to pacify or punch. I haven´t decided yet". Kiba barked his weird laughter again. "Alright. See you around, but if I was you I would avoid punching Lee. Rock Lee is like crazy fast".

Kankuro raised his eyebrows. _Who would have though? And that coming from a guy as strong as Kiba. But then again Gaara is pretty quick too, even though he looks all skinny. And he is by far the most dangerous fighter. He or Shukaku anyway._

He closed the door to Shinos and Kibas room, Nr. 8, behind him and looked left and right. At the east-end of the hallway he spotted Gaara opening the door to his room. Kankuro froze, as he met his brothers gaze and then forced a smile and raised a hand in greeting. Gaara simply went into his room.

 _Just as well,_ the puppeteer shrugged. Unlike Temari he wasn´t... whatever it was, that kept Temari throwing herself in front of their brothers inevitable way to permanent imprisonment.

Now that school was over for many students, they had mostly returned to their respective dormitories to either relax a little, do homework or drop their bags of. Anyway it didn´t seem to be the hour of students visiting friends and strolling the corridors yet. Kankuro wasn´t surprised. In Suna-Academy it had been the same.

 _Ino, Ino, Ino. Sakura. Where are you?_ He walked down the corridor in search of the girls rooms. A bit further down he spotted a whiteboard framed with silken cosmeas. The right side read "Sakura Haruno, 7" in delicate pink letters and the left side- Bingo! "Ino Yamanaka, 10", in _purple._ Tenten had been right about the girls virtually having "two rainbows and a unicorn-farm" in colors. The assortment of markers the two girls kept at their door needed an own box, that they had attached to the board.

Kankuro pretended to pick one for writing, while some brunette passed by and then nicked the deep rich purple, that came closest to the purple of the puppet-masters.

`Rock Lee` had been written in bold green letters, surrounded by tiny yellow stars on their board. Kankuro was pretty sure, that he hadn´t written it himself. His writing on Tentens board had been childish and crooked, not flashy. _Maybe Tenten wrote it for him_ , Kankuro mused. Neji Hyuuga was definitely not the kind of person to draw tiny yellow stars on anybodys board.

Kankuro considered to return the marker to those girls, but decided to just keep it, adding it to the standard four colors on their door.

He heard the whining before he opened the door and saw Rock Lee with watering eyes staring at the white in the room in shock. "You scoundrel!", Lee jumped to his feet and extended a finger at Kankuro. "How dare you?", he questioned "The beautiful youthfulness of spring and now the cold white of old age and winter!".

His new roommate ranted on and Kankuro noticed that no matter, what Lee said it always sounded like " _Waffle, waffle, whole load more of waffle",_ to him. After a minute he felt like he _might_ deserve, he had had enough. "Shut it!", he bellowed.

Lee, taken aback by his tone, actually did. "Listen up and listen good you wanna-be-power-ranger!", Kankuro snapped. "I _hate_ green. It is unnatural and plain irritating. I left you that strip over your bed and if you have a problem with that, try thinking, that the white just brings it out better. Old age emphasizing the meaning of youth or whatever. Frankly I don´t giva a fuck".

Lee was blinking rapidly and looked from the white wall to the broad strip of green running from his bed up to the ceiling. "I suppose it does make the color of my yoga-mat more visible", he noted. _Sadly that is true,_ Kankuro thought.

"Now if you want to make it to tomorrow, there are some rules", he announced "first of all: No working out, while I am sleeping", Lees face fell. "Second rule: No music, that either of us finds unbearable. Third rule: Never ever try to gift me one of those _things_ again", Kankuro pointed at the green _monstrosity_ that Lee had left on his desk for him.

"But it is the height of style! The choicest of garments. It is flexible and accentuates the-"

"I said _never!_ "

"Fine!", the green-clad teenager snapped. "If you can make rules, then so can I", he pointed to Kankuros desk-chair, where he had left Karasu. "I don´t", he drew quotation marks into the air " _give a fuck",_ he winked at Kankuro "what you do with that thing by day. But at night it goes in your closet. It´s _creepy!"_

"Karasu is a a piece of art! She was crafted by Sasori himself!"

"I consider my work-out body-art then. You bann mine, I bann yours"

Kankuro grinded his teeth. _I can´t expect to live peacefully with him, if I push every argument._ "Fine", he agreed and Lee flashed a toothy grin.

Kankuro sighed and let himself fall on his bed face-first in defeat. His nose hurt from the impact, even though the black sheets he had brought from Suna were soft enough. _Do not start punching those teeth out, do not start a fight and do not strangle him in his sleep with one of his stupid body-suits._ He repeated the mantra for a while, until he felt, like he could bear seeing Lee again, who was doing push-ups over his French-textbook.

"You sure are a weird, falling over like that", Lee said. _Weird? He calls_ me _weird?!_ Kankuro shook his head. "Do you take French as well?", Lee asked, easily turning over a page, while continuing push-ups with one arm.

"Spanish", Kankuro answered. "Bummer. I will teach you one of the most important words in French then", Lee said " _Jeunesse, jeunesse, jeunesse",_ he chanted. "I have to go", Kankuro shouldered Karasu and left. It was all he could do to stick to his mantra.

* * *

"Jeunesse" (as far as I distantly remember my French ;) ) means "youth".  
I know this story has a slow start... Bear with me? Please? :D


	3. A DAY IN GAARAS LIFE

Disclaimer: I still don´t own Naruto.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: Gaaras illness is by no means a depiction of a real mental illness. I know that dissociative identity disorder or schizophrenia do not work like this so please don´t hate on me. Okay... I wanted to show all thrre POVs before the plot gets started but I have to admit Gaaras POV is pretty boring for now :/ More ShikaTema interaction coming next chapter :)

GAARAS POV

"Hahaha", Shukaku laughed loudly and stretched his arms wide. He resembled Gaara in everything but coloring. Like Gaara he was wearing black jeans, and a white scarf knotted around his waist in the fashion of Suna. But unlike Gaara, whose long-sleeved shirt was the color of rust and blood, Shukaku was wearing navy-blue. _It doesn´t matter,_ Gaara reminded himself. _He isn´t real._

Shukaku turned around. His arms stretched out wide, he balanced on the low fence between the rooftop and the fall down from it. Behind his back the sun was just starting to rise. The wind tousled his sand-colored hair and his eyes, which were black with a glowing yellow iris, were fixed on Gaara, who sat on the roof, knees drawn to his chest.

"Look at this!", his hallucination exclaimed "Trees! There are trees everywhere!", he shook his head and jumped back onto the rooftop. His combat-boots approaching Gaaras own. His second personality and hallucination bowed down to him. The dark-blue Kanji for "Love" prominent on his forehead. "We don´t belong here", he said, sitting down next to Gaara.

Gaara looked at the forest. The tree-tops were coming into view in a pale orange light. Gaara had climbed the rooftop, to spend the night gazing up at the stars and the moon, but his favorite times had always been sunrise and sunset. _In Suna the sunrise is more beautiful._

Over the desert, dust and sand in the air caught the glowing red, orange and yellow, reflecting it and making the sky glow with the promise of a new day. Gaara knew that in more humid climates the sunrise was bound to look differently, but the subdued cooler colors were still a disappointment.

"Urgh", next to him Shukaku made gagging noises "At least the forest looks like it´s burning down". Gaara, who spend everyday battling his violent second personality, had to agree with it for once. The trees were catching the orange-glow now, and the thought was rather nice. _Burn it all down to ashes._

He closed his eyes, imagining himself standing in a sea of gray ash-dunes, reaching all the way to the horizon. He smiled. "Tell you what. Next time you are so out of it, that you need me, I´ll get started on it", Shukaku chuckled.

In most days Gaara could see Shukaku only in the distance. Walking down a corridor, turning a corner, or sitting in an empty desk beside him. He could remember the day, that Shukaku first spoke to him, the day his father had noticed, the day the other children in Suna noticed.

In Gaaras world Shukaku had always been around. He had sat on play-grounds Temari and Kankuro took him to and had looked and acted like a real person. It had been quite a shock to find out, that his friend wasn´t real. _And we were friends. Once,_ he looked sideways, finding Shukaku winking at him.

Gaara had never know he was talking to his second personality and his father had not bothered to explain it to him. He had just punished Gaara, trying to get it out of him. The other children had quickly started bullying him, and his friend, Shukaku had defended him.

Gaara remembered to have watched Shukaku fighting of his enemies many a time and only years later, he had learned, that this was a hallucination. That he was just imagining watching Shukaku do something, when his second personalty took over. _Though sometimes I remember nothing._

Shukaku was violent by nature. Every fight Gaara had seen, every blow he took, Shukaku had learned from. Chiyo had tried to explain it to him once. Gaara forgot lots and lots of things, that didn´t interest him, like everyone else, but Shukaku was interested in different things. He learned different skills. Mostly dangerous ones.

Shukaku only took over, when Gaara was so furious or tired, that he was helpless. Gaara was a good fighter, Shukaku was unbeatable. _At least up till now._

His second personality sighed and leaned back. "I remember when I could do what I wanted with us. Before you realized, that we are one and the same. I miss those days", he mused. "I would take us back to Suna. We belong there and you know it", he raised an accusing finger towards Gaara, who continued ignoring him.

"But", Gaaras inner demon sat up straight "we both know, I don´t have to wait much longer", he chuckled. "You are getting tired. I can tell. Usually I am just a side-product of your mind. You know it to be true Gaara", he taunted "every time you see more of me, you are losing it".

Gaara pressed his eyes shut and his finger to his temples and tried to focus. _The head-ache is real. The roof beneath me is real. The light of the morning and the damned trees. Missing Suna is real._ He opened his eyes again and looked past Shukaku, then he stared straight at him, trying to picture, what he should see, what was behind his hallucination.

"If you want to stay awake so badly, we could always watch "Fight-Club" again", his second personality quipped giving him a pitiful smile. Gaara closed his eyes, focused on the sound of the wind in the leaves, the birds in the trees and the sound of his own boot tapping nervously on the ground.

 _Relax,_ he told himself, and crossed his legs, starting a small meditation-exercise. When the sun had crept up far enough for him to feel some of its warmth on his face, Gaara opened his eyes again. _I am alone._ He decided it was time to get down to his first day of school.

 _At least I don´t have Home-Ed or Health today,_ he mused and made his way back to his room just in time, to wait a minute for his alarm to start. The recording of the old children´s lullaby was the only thing waking him up safely. Whenever he fell asleep, when he woke up, he was usually surrounded by some sort of mess or unconcious bodies Shukaku had left.

Chiyo had said, that his mother had been like Gaara, but since he had never met her, he couldn´t ask for advise on how to deal with Shukaku.

Gaara collected a half-sleeved fishnet-shirt, a simple black T-Shirt and fresh underwear from one of the two build-in drawers at the bottom of his closet, that he actually used. He hardly had any clothes requiring a hanger, and couldn´t even imagine filling such a big piece of furniture.

After his shower he cleared away the last bits of eyeliner, that had survived the water with a tissue. _I look so different_.

From the mirror an exhausted sickly version of himself regarded him calmly. The shadows around and under his eyes were grayish and purple and just looked like a sickness, without his eyeliner. Before the insomnia had taken over Gaaras features, his eyes had always stood in big contrast to his hair, and lining them with black, drawing the eye from the shadows under them, was merely restoring that state.

He didn´t care much for appearance, but still waited a moment, to give the liquid eyeliner he used time to dry. Smirched eyeliner did after all hold a strong association to crying. While he focused to keep his eyes still, his mirror-image suddenly winked at him.

The soap-dispenser clattered, as he winced and knocked it over. _I need to meditate more._

With the promise to his own sanity, to do so after class in mind, he took out two pills from the medication-organizer Temari had gotten him and crashed them with the soap-dispenser, before watering them down the drain.

He left the bathroom with a wet tissue and walked over to the windowsill, where he had lined up his array of cacti. He carefully wrung drops over the plants, that could use a bit of water, and filled the tiny glass bottle from his night-stand with a little sand from the gourd, he had made Kankuro drive over from Suna.

After storing the bottle and his books, writing utensils, time-table and folder in his messenger-bag, he left his room to go down to the cafeteria.

Breakfast at Konoha-Acadamy was very different than in Suna-Academy. In Suna there was usually exactly one kind of mush the kitchen staff liked to call porridge and one could grab some dates or oranges or varying other fruits with it. It was one of the reason, why Gaara and his siblings had commuted to the Academy, instead of staying there.

In Konoha-Acadamy there was a buffet featuring everything from yogurt for diet-obsessed girls to bacon and eggs. Gaara, who had skipped dinner last night and didn´t feel like having breakfast either, opted for black coffee and collected an orange from the fruit-basket to eat later. _It definitely lacks dates._

He took a seat in the most shadowy corner he could find. The architects of the building had build in a line of windows allowing to view the school-grounds towards the lake. Gaara couldn´t care less about it. He was here to observe the students.

Just like Suna-Academy Konoha-Acadamy had been founded as an army-project, encouraging the spirit of competition in the martial arts. The chunin-competitions were supposed to give an accurate display of a country´s strength, and the entrance exams weeded out those unworthy of higher training. A student who graduated an academy earned the right to call him- or herself a Shinobi. It was a higher degree and more well-rounded education than any High-school offered.

 _Of course the competitions got corrupted though._ Gaara silently cursed whoever first had had the idea to add competitions in arts and stuff like shogi or chess to it and officially turned it from a competition into an exam.

He took a sip of his coffee. _Let´s see who is training in the morning. At least one or two have to take their technique seriously enough._

He didn´t have to wait long for other students to appear. Temaris roommate entered the cafeteria yawning beside his sister. The two girls held a polite amount of conversation up, but both of them seemed tired, as they made their way down the buffet.

Temari and Tenten sat down at a table near the windows and Temari spotted him, motioning for him to come over. Shortly after that the long-haired guy from one of the pictures in Kankuros room and Kankuros roommate entered. The latters hair was still wet from the shower. _No surprise there. Nobody keeps so many weights and a mat in his room, if he isn´t in a habit of exercising._

His black-haired companion however struck Gaara as more interesting. He was a tall teenager with the posture and high cheekbones of old aristocracy. _Neji Hyuuga_ , Gaara recalled. He seemed awake and aware and the once-over he gave Gaara, while ignoring the chatter of the nuisance by his side, set the alarm in Gaaras head of.

 _He sees me,_ he thought. _He recognizes me._ It felt like he was getting an x-ray.

Most people didn´t spot a skinny fifteen-year old and classified him as dangerous. _The things, that warn them of are my scars, and my eyes. But this guy..._ Gaara had never met a person who saw through him like that, when he wasn´t angry or at least tense. He could see the other boys pale eyes darting from one target to another.

 _My solar-plexus, my throat, my arms and hands, checking for muscles or scars, from experience. He knows exactly where to look._

Neji neither frowned nor smiled, but simply returned to his breakfast, accompanying his teammate over to Temaris and Tentens table. _Interesting. Neji Hyuuga. He has a cousin here somewhere. I wonder, what she is like..._

Gaara spotted Sasuke entering the cafeteria. Like him the Uchiha picked a table in the back of the room. _Right. Sasuke._ Gaara had not payed the Uchiha attention, while passing him the other day, but when the black-haired teenager had spoken up, he had payed him a closer look.

The Uchiha was interesting. His obviously trained muscles aside he moved with the quiet fluidity and grace, that could only come from exercising some sort of choreography, either dance or a series of martial-arts stances and moves. Gaara knew the latter, once he looked at Sasuke Uchihas face. The air of bored coolness was betrayed by an ambition and coldness burning once he set his eyes on Gaara.

Gaara wasn´t always good at reading peoples emotions, but hatred was the one he was familiar with. _Only strange, that he doesn´t seem to hate me. I wonder who it is... Probably someone he loved once._ Gaara chuckled silently. Love. It was almost sad, that someone who seemed to have Sasukes spirit for fighting should have such a silly reason as revenge for it.

Gaara touched the tattoo on his forehead and closed his eyes for a second, trying to fight his resurfacing head-ache back down. When he opened his eyes again, the cafeteria had several new visitors. There was a blond girl bickering with that Sakura-girl. Both of them threw more than one look towards Sasukes table, telling Gaara, they were probably fighting about him.

There was another boy, with ginger-brown hair and too much weight on his ribs to be of interest as an opponent, who laded his tray with virtually everything from the buffet. Gaaras stomach almost turned at the thought of eating so much. Especially in the morning. He quickly continued to look for newcomers and spotted a dark-haired boy with silky but spiky brown hair and sunglasses, who wore an over-coat inside. Gaara couldn´t decide whether he was a person of interest or not. He didn´t have Sasukes aura or Nejis obvious skill.

 _On the other hand he wears sunglasses and such a high collar. For all I know he could be hiding anything._ Gaara decided to take a look at his female companion, to get a better picture. He felt his eyes widen slightly, as he took a double- and tripple-take of the girl.

At first he had just noted, that she seemed pretty, though boring and friendly, judging by the polite smile she constantly gave the guy with the sunglasses. A split-second later he realized his mistake. _Could it be, that?_

Her short black hair had a blueish shimmer, but taken that aside she had the same lilac eyes as Neji Hyuuga, and though she wore a beige jacket and blue jeans, that were unremarkable, it struck him as odd. _Could this be the other Hyuuga? They seem nothing alike. Her entire posture screams insecurity._

Gaara subtly glanced at Neji, but the Hyuuga sat with his back towards him, effectively preventing a decent second look, so instead Gaara looked at the girl for a third time. This time more thoroughly.

Her black hair was only slightly different from her potential cousins. Gaara noted that her bangs complimented her delicate features. She had similar cheekbones to Neji Hyuugas. Her complexion seemed to be equally pale, and though she had longer lashes framing her extraordinary lilac eyes, the color seemed the same. She seemed to be... delicate. Gaara couldn´t find a better word to describe the way she looked.

It seemed to be something untouchable. Something evasive he couldn´t quite pin-point. Though she wore a loose jacket she seemed to have a petite frame. She didn´t wear a dress, or kept her hair awfully long, but something about her was definitely different.

 _And that has nothing to do with her insecurity._ The girl never seemed to keep eye-contact and was nervously playing with her fingers now, before she grabbed her tray from the buffet, following the guy with the sunglasses. She was the polar opposite of Neji Hyuuga.

 _Still... Thar eye-color. They_ must _be related._ The girl stumbled, only barely managing to retain her balance and not spill her breakfast all over the floor. She looked around and spotted Gaara in his corner. She immediately evaded his eyes again, but for a tiny moment while she blushed heavily her eyes lingered on his tattoo and the scars on his arms.

Her companion came to her aid and she sat down with him, but Gaara saw the new tension in her posture and new, that something was changed. _Maybe she is unsettled._ He looked down onto his forearms, where an array of faint and not so faint cigarette-burns here and there broken by broader, but faint stripes with an occasional more beaded scar marked his skin from his pale elbows to his fingers. _Or maybe, she saw some of the things her cousin spotted so easily?_

Gaara finished his coffee to go and brush his teeth before class and succeeded in evading Temaris attempt to catch him before he left. _Probably wants to ask, if I took my pills._

Gaara walked to his dormitory by way of the eastern staircase and passed the obnoxious Naruto-guy, a boy with red stripes and a wrinkle from his cushion in his face and a bit further up a yawning black-haired guy with a spiky ponytail.

Half a flight of stairs further up he passed his own brother, who had time for a "Morning, Gaara", before he rushed towards breakfast. Gaara didn´t bother to call out and tell Kankuro, that he wore his hoodie inside-out, or that he really should get up earlier. _After all we are family, not friends._

The first lesson on Gaaras time-table was English-class with Sensei Iruka. Gaara was the first student to arrive in the classroom. He took a seat by the window in the back of the class. The Sensei turned out to be a ponytail-wearing tanned guy witch a prominent scar all the way from one side of his nose to the other.

To annoy Gaara even more than English-class did on its own account, the Sensei thought, or probably _felt,_ it was a good idea to introduce him to his peers. The moment everyone was present (Naruto barging in a few minutes after class had begun) he started an introduction.

"Class, as you probably have all noticed", he smiled knowingly, since everyone kept glancing over at Gaara "we have a new student. Of course you will have the opportunity to introduce yourself. But to be fair, I think, we should introduce ourselves to. I am Iruka Umino, I am 26 years old. I like to teach and I do not like it, when students don´t pay attention. Maybe you could continue, Sakura".

The pink-haired girl in the front row nodded and turned around. "Erm... my name is Haruno Sakura. I am sixteen years old. What I like...", her eyes flickered to Sasuke Uchiha and she blushed, struggling to keep talking. "What you don´t like, Sakura", Iruka reminded her.

"Naruto!", the pinkette called out, causing the blond boy to let his head fall, not even gently, onto his desk. Gaara couldn´t care less. While his new classmates blabbered on, he ignored their voices, only tuning back in , when it was Sasuke Uchihas turn.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I hate a lot of things and I don´t particularly like anything".

There was a silence in the class, as everyone looked at the Uchiha. The whispering and chattering had stopped. That was until Naruto, who sat at the desk in front of Sasuke, in the line behind Sakura got up and started shouting how he was gonna surpass them all and make everybody notice him.

Gaaras head-ache got worse with the volume and he was almost glad, when Sakura shut her teammate up, by hitting him over the head, lecturing him about noise-levels during class. "Okay, okay- Calm down", Sensei Iruka flashed Gaara an apologetic smile. "Now, maybe you could introduce yourself?".

Gaara glared at him. _What an idiot._

"My name is Sabaku-no Gaara. I am fifteen years old". There was a small pause. "And you like and dislike?", Sensei Iruka asked.

"I like to have a purpose and I hate failure", he glared at Sensei Iruka, whose smile vanished. "Erm... okay. Gaara transferred here from Suna-Academy. I hope you will be welcoming towards him. If you need help to catch up with the few weeks you missed, both Sakura and Hinata are know to keep useful notes".

 _Hinata? As in Hinata Hyuuga?_ Gaara tried to remember her introduction, but hadn´t listened. He didn´t even see her in the classroom. _She is sitting between spiky-hair and cushion-face,_ Gaara finally realized. Unlike her cousin, who drew attention through his confident posture, Hinata seemed to do her best to vanish in the background. _I wonder why._

The rest of English-class was pretty boring and lacked any sense in Gaaras opinion. Sensei Iruka had spent most of the term so far with repetition and now they were supposed to discuss the first chapter of "The Great Gatsby", which Gaara found exceptionally pointless. _Even for English-class. And to think, that I have French next,_ he massaged his temples.

When the class finished, he found himself wishing, that he had been the one to put that scar in that awfully cheerful teachers face. Gaara trailed out into the corridor with the rest of the class. He walked down the corridor towards French and noticed, that some of his classmates followed the same path. The guy with the sunglasses and the Uchiha were amongst them. The raven-haired boy was closely pursued by Sakura and her blond counterpart, who kept on bickering about Sasuke-this and Sasuke-that, as long as they were out of earshot from him.

Sasuke Uchiha spend the entire minutes before class subtly measuring Gaara, who was leaning against a wall, eyes closed. Gaara was pretty sure he had scratched the Uchihas ego the day before and contentedly kept on ignoring him. Sakura was trying to get Sasukes attention, while the guy with the sunglasses seemed to run a last-minute-check on his homework.

A mere second before class the fat boy with the hair-color somewhere between real ginger and brown returned panting, a bag of chips clutched in his hands.

"Chouji! Where have you been?", the blond girl demanded to know. "Getting a snack", the boy answered opening the bag of chips with bacon flavor. "Seriously. We have _just_ had breakfast!", the blond shook her head. "You want some, Ino? You only had like a spoonful of yogurt for breakfast", Chouji offered the bag to the disgusted blond.

"No eating in class, Chouji. We have been over this", a black-haired woman with actually blood-red eyes had appeared and opened the classroom-door. She didn´t make a fuzz like Sensei Iruka, merely introduced herself as Sensei Kurenai, and turned out to be a calm but strict teacher.

Unlike Sensei Iruka she didn´t make an effort to include everyone and motivate everyone. Instead she simply forced them into participation, by making them read out and translate passages from a text at the beginning of class. Ino and the guy with the coat, Shino, did rather poorly and though she pointed out every mistake they made, she did it in a polite manner.

All in all French was much more bearable than English and Kurenai assigned them a simple translation as homework.

Gaara decided to skip lunch in favor of his orange, and spend the break in the library, eating the fruit slice by slice and browsing the mathematics-section. From Algebra to Analysis, mathematics were his favorite subject. Gaara spotted a title about Hyperbolic functions, that struck his fancy, and decided to come back later and get it.

After lunch he ventured down to the fourth floor, where he had Geography next. By now he recognized a fair share of his classmates. There was Ino, the obnoxious blond, Naruto, the loud and obnoxious in a different way blond, Sasuke Uchiha, who was currently bickering with Naruto, while Ino agreed with everything he said and finally the guy with the red stripes in his face.

 _Is that even allowed?_ Gaara measured the small white and brown dog, comfortably poking out of the boys fur-lined jacket. _Konoha-Acadamy really has lower standards._

The boy with the dog stared at Gaaras scarred arms. In recompense for annoying him Gaara gave his dog a look, that had the fur-ball shaking and whining so much, that Sensei Gai, the worst of the teachers Gaara had seen so far, send Kiba out of class after half of the time.

While the Geography-class most certainly explained, where Kankuros roommate had gotten his antics from, it did nothing to explain, why someone like spandex-senior was allowed to teach. They were currently on the topic "Tourism" and Sensei Gai was jumping back and forth between the blackboard and his power-point presentation, showering them in such an avalanche of information, that Gaara actually had trouble to keep notes.

If the teacher hadn´t stopped to occasionally give them a thumps-up, dazzling grin or chuck a piece of chalk at everyone, who wasn´t paying attention, Gaara wouldn´t have been able to keep up.

At the end of the lesson Sensei Gai was out of chalk (most of it had hit Kiba, for focusing on his pet instead of class) and Gaara felt, as if his brain had been fried. So far he had found the workload in every class lesser than in Suna. Geography on the other hand, seemed to be taught on a whole different level in Konoha.

When he heard, that Sensei Gai hardly ever gave homework, expecting them to go over their notes before the next lesson instead, Gaara was relieved. While he wasn´t brilliant at Geography, he had always done well, when he had tried. And more than that, he found himself looking forward to Gym-class, which was also taught by Sensei Gai.

 _True enough the guy is horrible, but he might actually be able to challenge me in Gym-class for once,_ Gaara thought, as he made his way back to his room. When he reached his door, he clenched his fists.

" _Appointment with the Guidance Counselor. Friday 03:00 pm. -I.U."_

 _Please let I.U. not mean Iruka Umino,_ Gaara hoped and wiped the message of his board, leaving only the red lettered Gaara and the Kanji for love, he had written behind his name.

Inside Shukaku was lounging on his chair, spinning round after round on it. "How was school?", he chuckled at his own wit, since he almost always knew, what Gaara did during the day. He pretended to pout, when Gaara didn´t answer.

"So, I´ve been thinking", Shukaku finally gave up on an answer. "That cute little message on our board. Why don´t you let me go? You could just take one of those crafty little sleeping pills. When they come knocking on our door, I am going to be woken up, not you. Wouldn´t that be nice? I swear, if I go, we only have to go once".

Gaara pretended that these words held no temptation. There was a part of him, that wanted to do exactly that. _Just let go and sleep,_ he thought. He tried to remember when he had last slept and checked the calendar. _It has been long_ , he thought.

And the last few days he had barely meditated, because of the move. _No wonder, Shukaku is so present._ He dropped his bag next to his desk and sat down on the rust-red rug he had brought from Suna. _Just a few hours,_ he thought. _Relax_.

He set his alarm-clock just in case and closed his eyes. Clearing his head to sink into a trance-like state had taken years to learn, but it got very close to sleeping. When Gaara "woke up" several hours later, he turned his alarm clock off again and went to dinner. He had missed enough meals to be hungry and actually want to eat for a change.

Gaara had barely navigated his tray, under the curious looks of many fellow-students, towards his table in the back-corner and sat down, when his sister all but slammed her own tray down beside him, closely followed by her twin.

"Bad day, huh?". Kankuro chuckled and Temari gave him a glare, that had him raise his hands in mock-surrender. "What do you think?", she asked in a false sugary tone, that made Kankuro chuckle again.

"Temari and I had Health-class today. It sucked", Kankuro told Gaara. "She almost killed her seat-neighbour, because he spent the entire lesson asleep, and started drooling on the desk. And I am entirely grossed out by Shizunes graphic approach to teach us about STD´s", he eyed his chicken frowning.

"You haven´t heard the worst, Kankuro! I got teamed, _teamed,_ with that-", Temari stabbed a potatoe so brutally, that the fork left a mark on her plate and growled an impressive assortment of insults under her breath.

"When did that happen?", Kankuro asked, around a potatoe of his own. "Don´t speak, while you are chewing!", Temari boxed his arm, and Kankuro started coughing, as his food went down the wrong pipe. "And in Spanish-class", Temari said, apparently oblivious to her twin, who was reaching for his glass with watering eyes.

"Shizune teaches Health-class?", Gaara asked over the still coughing Kankuro, who only increased the attention, that was already being payed to their table. Temari nodded, and rolled her eyes, then she hit Kankuro, not gently, on the back. Kankuro quickly emptied his glass and cleared his throat.

"I swear you deserve your team-up with ponytail. Letting me suffocate, like that", he croaked. "Oh, grow up", Temari huffed. "You grow up. It´s just Spanish", Kankuro said "It can´t be that bad to be teamed with him for _one_ subject".

"Oh, sure", Temaris voice was dripping in sarcasm "I am sure, we will be _best buddies_. I will tell you all about our wonderful friendship, once he decides to actually show up!", she murdered another potatoe.

"So _that_ got you all riled up. He skipped. Maybe I did judge him to quickly. Heavy weighs the head, which wears the... ponytail? Or was it crown?", Temari was about to reply, but Gaara cut her of.

"Don´t", he raised a hand. "Stop it. I am sick of listening to you two", he didn´t miss the look his siblings exchanged, but didn´t care for it either. _They are such a bother._

Temari cleared her throat. "Right. Erm... what I wanted to ask you. Did you settle in well? And did you take your medicine?". Gaara glared at her. "Of course", he replied. Temari bit her lip and looked down, which finally was something, that pleased Gaara. "I found an interesting book in the library today. Do you know, if we need some sort of student´s pass to get them?", he rewarded his sister with an answer for her good behaviour.

"You have to tell the librarian, she keeps a list, that you have to sign", Kankuro surprised both Temari and Gaara. "You went to the library?", Temaris face lit up. Kankuro nodded "Sure. I needed somewhere to skip History-class and thought I would check it out".

"It is literally our _first_ day here! You don´t even know, if you like History-class here"

"Is the History here any different from Suna?"

"Of course. The demographic and political changes in non-desert towns-"

"Blah. Blah. Blah. It´s a bore. You just repeat stuff that happened. If I ever need to know it, I will look it up on the internet", Kankuro shrugged. "Don´t force your weird obsession with long gone times on everyone else, Mari".

Temari opened her mouth, but thought better of it, when she caught Gaaras eye. "Which book?", she asked instead. "One about Hyperbolic functions", Gaara answered. "Isn´t that pretty advanced math?", his sister wanted to know. "Hardly", Gaara finished his food, and folded his napkin. "Meaning totally", Kankuro said.

"Well, I am glad you found a book about it", Temari smiled. Gaara stared for a moment, unsure what she wanted. When she didn´t say anything he got up to leave. "Good night", Temari wished him.

Gaara almost laughed. _When do I ever have a good night, Temari?_

When he was back in his room, he sat down to do his homework, and crossed another day of his calendar. _That is seven_ _days without any sleep_ , he noted, before he started to translate the text Sensei Kurenai had assigned him.


End file.
